A Concise History of the US Air Force - Air Force Historical Studies ...

In the United States an outpouring of patriotism accompanied the
declaration of war. Talk of “darkening the skies over Germany with
clouds of U.S. aircraft” stiffened Allied resolve. It also appealed to the
American people. Congress supported their sentiments when it approved
$640 million on July 24, 1917, the largest lump sum ever appropriated by
that body to that time, for a program to raise 354 combat squadrons.
President Wilson immediately created the Aircraft Production
Board under Howard Coffin to administer an expansion, but the United
States had no aircraft industry, only several shops that hand-built an occa-
sional aircraft, and no body of trained workers. The spruce industry, crit-
ical to aircraft construction, attempted to meet the enormous demand
under government supervision. A production record that approached a
national disaster forced Wilson on May 21, 1918, to establish a Bureau of
Aircraft Production under John Ryan and a separate Division of Military
Aeronautics under Major General William Kenly. The division would be
responsible for training and operations and would replace the Aviation
Section of the Signal Corps. Perhaps as an indication of the Army’s atti-
tude toward the new air weapon, the two agencies remained without a sin-
gle overall chief. Not until four months before the end of the war did
Wilson appoint Ryan Director of the Air Service and Second Assistant
Secretary of War in a late attempt to coordinate the two agencies.
Despite President Wilson’s initiatives American aircraft produc-
tion fell far short of its goals. In June 1917 a mission led by Major Raynal
Bolling to investigate conditions on the Western Front, decided that Ame-
rica’s greatest contribution to the war besides its airmen would be its raw
materials from which the Allies could produce the necessary aircraft in
Europe, rather than in the United States. This time-saving approach was
not particularly popular, given American chauvinism at the time. The
United States would build engines, trainer aircraft, and British-designed
DH-4 bombers. It would buy combat aircraft from France (4,881),
Britain (258), and Italy (59).
American industry managed to turn out 1 1,754 aircraft, mostly
trainers, before the end of the war-a significant accomplishment. Detroit
produced 1 5,572 Liberty engines, big 12-cylinder in-line liquid-cooled
power plants of 400 horsepower that were more efficient than other
wartime engines. The Army set up ground schools at 8 universities, 27
primary flying schools in the United States, and 16 advanced training
schools in Europe. On Armistice Day the Air Service had 19,189 officers
and 178,149 enlisted men filling 185 squadrons.
One of the first American airmen to reach France was Major
William “Billy” Mitchell, who studied British and French aerial tech-
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